The good news, if you’re ready for that, these Socceroos will improve

Arlington: Everything is bigger in Texas. The food portions. The petrol stations. AT&T Stadium. The screen suspended over the field at AT&T Stadium. The supermarkets, like the Walmart across the road that was invaded before kick-off by a horde of hope-filled Australians – and now, the heartbreak they will share.

This one hurts. And it hurts because the Socceroos deserved better. They played well against Egypt, they gave it everything, and it wasn’t enough.

For the third time, Australia has fallen over at the first knockout hurdle of the World Cup. The next chance for redemption will be four long years away – and we can only hope these players will let this horrible feeling sink in, feel it deeply, then use it, and come back bigger and better, ready to break this hoodoo in 2030.

Australian teams have a proud record of penalty shootout success, but this was the first time the Socceroos have encountered one at the World Cup proper – and they’d love to have another go at it.

The pain is sharper not only because of the method of defeat, but because of who missed. Harry Souttar, the man who wore the captain’s armband until Mat Ryan’s shock introduction a minute before the end of extra-time. Even Souttar seemed bigger in Texas; not for the first time, he was absolutely everywhere, blocking everything, directing play, flashing technique and causing problems.

Then, for the first time, he caused one for us. Bravely stepping up to take the first penalty, Souttar skied it into the sea of red in the stands. The mood suddenly darkened; as Awer Mabil led the attempts by helpless players to rouse up the sections of yellow into making more noise, it was as if he was trying to shift the will of the universe.

The teams successfully traded shots as Egypt held their nerves, pocketing the opening three.

Then Lucas Herrington stepped up to take Australia’s fourth. What kind of 18-year-old – a centre-back, no less – has the stones to take a spot kick in a World Cup shootout? This kind of 18-year-old. Unfortunately, for the first time in his professional career, it appeared the moment got to him. His shot hit the bar, Egypt’s Hossam Abdelmaguid converted the next, and that was that.

What would have happened if coach Tony Popovic didn’t pull the reverse Andrew Redmayne move and send on Ryan, for his first minutes of the tournament, for Patrick Beach, who kept the Socceroos in it with a miraculous one-handed safe in the dying minutes of regulation time? That debate will rage, but we’ll never know the answer. It might have mattered, it might not.

“At this stage, the details matter and the moments make the difference,” Popovic said in his pre-match press conference on Thursday in Dallas.

So it proved. The Socceroos produced their best overall performance of the World Cup, creating almost more opportunities and openings than in their three previous games combined.

The early vibes were encouraging. Popovic named an unchanged line-up for the first time in his tenure as national team boss, and they looked good and moved well.

Cristian Volpato hit the crossbar in the fifth minute – the same one that Herrington hit; maybe that was a bad omen, actually – while his combination with the relentless Jordan Bos on the right side appeared to be Australia’s most likely avenue.

The vibes would sadly deteriorate. They conceded in the 13th minute from the second phase of a set piece. Australia’s defensive set-up was slightly scrambled, and that gave Emam Ashour enough room to convert a free header from close-range and deliver a stinging sucker-punch.

Aside from that moment, the Socceroos restricted Egypt to few clear-cut chances; thankfully, the ones they did let happen were either missed, like Omar Marmoush’s sitter nine seconds into the second half, or were somehow blocked by Souttar and his lieutenants at the back.

The early goal left the Socceroos chasing the game – a challenge made even more difficult by the half-time loss of Bos to injury. Clattered into an Egyptian player in the final moments of the first half, he was carried off by two trainers, unable to put any pressure on his left leg.

But they dug deep, forced an equaliser through Aiden O’Neill’s terrific free kick in the 55th minute, which went in off the head of Egypt’s Mohamed Hany, and then hung on throughout a late raid by the Pharoahs.

The good news, if you’re ready for that, this team will improve. Hopefully, significantly. For many of these Socceroos, this was their first World Cup of possibly two, three or four. They are all making waves in club football, and the more of them who advance their careers and enhance their capabilities, the better off the national team will be.

This group of players is going places. The bad news is we have to wait to find out where.